Automatic feed mechanism



Dec. 7 1926.

w. L L E M L AUTOMATIC FEED MECHANI SM 4 Sheets-Sh'et 1 Filed April 5 1924 Dec. 7 1926.

L. M. ELLIS AUTOMATIC FEED MECHANISM- 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 5, 1924 Dec. 7 1926.

L. M. ELLIS AUTOMATIC FEED MECHANI SM Filed April 5. 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 L. M. ELLIS AUTOMATIC FEED MECHANISM Dec. 7 1926.

Filed April 5. 1924 Q 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented p... 7.192

UNITED STATES ,rLLEWELLY MILFORD arms, or nrnmrneneiu, ENGLAND, AssIG von. 'ro THE TIMKEN ROLLER menmecomraumor cAn'romoHIo, a'oonrone'rron or" OHIO.

"'nu'roiua'rrc FEED macnamsrr.

Application filed April .5, 1924, Serial 110. 704,545, and in Great Britain March 11,1924.

- The objectof the present invention is to provide improved and efficientfeed mecha-' nism for automatically delivering taper or other bearing rollers, screws, rivets or other analogous articles.

The improved feed mechanism comprises essentially a hopper or container for the rollers or articles to be delivered, and a re-:

ciprocating member or fplate moving up and down within the hopper or container, and adapted on each up-stroke to raise a certain number of the rollers or articles opposite,

or adjacent to, a passage or opening through which they are caused'automatically to be delivered. The rollers are preferably fed into a reciprocating delivering member or slide which carries them one at a time opposite an opening through which they, may fall or pass. Where the feed mechanlsm 1s employed for taper bearing rollers, such as'for feeding them on to a grading machine, 1t 1s preferably arranged to deliver the said rollers on to a specially constructed wheel adapted to cause themto be delivered onto a chute in such a manner that the larger ends of all the rollers face the same direction, the said chute being arranged, for example, to convey. the rollersto the grading machine.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a front elevation of the improved feed mechanism, as constructed 'in accordance with this invention, and as adapted for automatically feeding or deliveringtaper bear-' ing rollers.

Figure 2 illustrates a side elevation of the.

improved feed mchanism.

Figure 3 is a sectional upper portion of the feed mechan sm on a larger scale, showing the reciprocating member or plate at the bottom of its stroke and in the act of moving upwards, the vlew also a showing, in section. the feed-passage to which the rollers are conveyed.

Figure 4 is a sectional view showing the reciprocating member or plate at the top of its stroke, and illustrating the manner 111' which the rollers move from the said member or plate into the feed passage.

Figure 5 represents a section on the line 5-5 Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a-view of the wheel betweenthe flanges of which the rollers are caused to drop, before being delivered to the chute.

view through the rollers to be delivered with their larger ends facing the opposite direction.

- The same reference numerals indicate correspouding parts in each of thefigures.

Referring to Figures 1 to 7 of the drawings, the improved feed mechanism. comprises ahopper or container 1 which is car? ried by the upper ends ofa pair of vertical standards. 2, which are laterally separated and carried by a. suitable base 3. The'upper portions of these standards 2 are formed along their opposed faces with vertical guides i, for. engaging the longitudinal edges of an elongated plate This plate is adapted to be moved up and down along the guides 4 by means of acrank 6 to which it is attached by a connecting rod 7, thecrank being; carried by a shaft 10 mounted within suitable bearings. in the lower portion of the standards 2 and adapted to be rotated length with a V-groove 11 (Figure 7) adapted to receive and-hold a number of'the rollers end to end, The bottom of the hopper 1. is of a broad V-formation, as will be seen from Figure 2, its extreme lower end or apex, formed by the lower opposed edges .of the two inclined bottom members 12 being also inclined in the transverse direction of the hopper as clearlyillus'tratedin Figure 1, the inclination ofthe said lower end corresponding to the inclined upper edge of the plate 5. The lower edges of the two inclined bottom members 12 of the hopper 1 are separated from one another by a narrow; slot just sufficiently wide to receive the reciprocating plate 5. the upper edge of the latter lying .just within the slot,.at the bottom ofthe' hopper, when the plate is at the bottom of its stroke, as shown in Figure 7 the said lower edges of the bottom members 12 being bent down into flanges 13 which embrace the sides of theplate. The'said plate 15 is arranged as it is moved upwards by the crank-6 to pass cenjtrally'thrqugh the hopper 1, so that it assumes the pos'ition shown in upper open end of this feed-passage is arranged to come level with the lower end of the groove 11 in the inclined upper edge of the plate 5 when the latter is at the top of its stroke. The lower "endof the feed pas sage 15 terminates in a passagelfi at rightangles thereto which is formed in the enlarged end of the arm 14', the said passage 16 having an aperture 17 in its walls, near its lower end which is disposed belowthe end of the feed passage 15 and upon the opposite side of thesaid passage 16, as shown, the said aperture being sufliciently large to allow of a roller passing endwise therethrough.

'Slidably mounted'within this passage 16 is a carrier member or slide 18 having a transverse passage 19 therethrough sufficiently --long toreceive one roller at a time when'ar- .in through which the rod 29 passes.

until the transverse p assage therein'lies in alignment with the feed passage 15. The

plate 5 now commences its downward stroke,

said spring bearing against the end of the latter whilst its other end bears against the upper end of an arm or bracket 30 fixed to the outer endof the arm or extension 14-, the said upper end of the arm 30 being bent over at right-angles and having a hole there- The spring 28 is caused to move the carrier member 18 downwards until the passage 19 is brought opposite the aperture 17, when further downward movement is prevented by stop-nuts 31 upon the end of the rod 29 which then engage against the end of the arm 30.

the cam-plate 27 likewise moving down- The taper rollers 32 are placed within the A hopper or container 1. Whenthe plate 5 is at the bottom of its stroke its grooved upper edge lies substantially level with'the bottom of the'hopper, and as the said plate moves upwards a number of the rollers lodge within the groove 11 in the inclinedupper edge of the plate and are carried by the latter towards the top of the hopper. When the ranged axially therein. This passage 19 plate 5 reaches the top of its stroke the lower arranged to come immediately opposite an in alignment with the end of the feed pas sage 15, and after receiving one of the rollers from the latter is adapted to be moved opposite the aperture 17 through which the roller may fall, the passage 19 being -in-' cline'd to the horizontal; For this purpose a reciprocating movement 1s imparted to the carrier member 18. This movement is automatieally effected so that it is in synchronism with the movement of the plate 5, the upward movement of the carrier member being obtained through the medium of a bell-crank lever fulcrumed at 20 to the adjacent standard 2. "The one arm .21 of the said'lever is slotted at 22 to receive a trun--. 'nion 23 fixed to-the sideof the carrier member and working within a slotin the side of the passage 16. The other arm 24 of the bellc'rank lever extends downwards, and carries a roller 25 atits extremity which isadapted to beengaged by the inclined cam-end 26 of a plate 27 bolted to the lower end of the plate 5, so that as the'plate 5 moves upwards the arm 24, which normally lies in a substantially .'vertical plane, is forced outwards, thereby causing the arm 21 of the bell-crank to move upwards, the latter turning about its fulcrum; 20. "The. carrier member; 18 is thus moved upwards'within the passage 16 end of the groove 11 lies opposite the feedpassage 15, as .above stated, when one or more of the rollers 32 are caused by gravity to enter the said passage endwise. At the moment when the plate 5 is at the topof its stroke the passage 19 in the carrier member or slide 18 is opposite the feed passage 15,

to the top of the hopper as the plate 5 again moves upwards when another roller; enters the feed passage to replace the roller which has been removed. At this instant the passage 19 is again brought opposite the feedpassage by the cam-operated bell-crank and receives another roller, which is brought opposite the aperture 17 through which it falls, as above. described. This process is repeated as; long as any rollers remain in the hopper, the rollers being fed one at a time through the aperture 17 at intermittent intervals. Should any roller not lie lengthwise within the groove in the plate 5 as the latter reaches the top of its stroke it cannot enter the feed passage 15, which is of a diameter only slightly larger than the largest diameter of the rollers, sothat it'is again carried down with the plate on its succeeding down-stroke, when a fresh set of rollers, which may lie correctly within the groove, are again brought opposite the feed passage on the following up-stroke. hould the roller be prevented from entering the feed passage for this reason the regular intermittent feed of the rollers through the aperture 17 is not interrupted, owing to the numbereof rollers always contained within the feed passage, only one of which is removed at a time.

Where the rollers are to be fed on to a grading machine, as in the present instance, it is desirable that all of the rollers should be fed on to the machine with their larger ends facing the same direction. This result is obtained in the following manner :As the rollers 32are fed intermittentlyt-hrough the aperture 17 they are arranged to fall on to a rotating feed-wheel of a particular construction, being guided on to the latter by a suitably shaped guide-plate 33 attached to the outer end of the arm 14. This feedwheel comprises two flanges 34 which are separated by a deep annular parallel-sided groove or channel 35 of a width slightly less than the diameter of the lar est ends of the rollers, the outer periphera portions of the opposed faces of the two flanges, being bevelled or inclined, as shown. This feedwheel is disposed immediately beneath and adjacent to the aperture 17 and isfixed upon a shaft 36 mounted within a bearing carried by one of the standards2, near its upper end. The'shaft 36 carries a pulley 37 whereby it is rotated, the said pulley being driven from a wheel 38 upon the one end of the crank-shaft 10 through the medium of the belt 39, so that the feed-wheel comprising the separated flanges 34 is rotated during the whole of the time the machine is in operation. Arranged adjacent the said feed wheel is a chute 40 which conveys the rollers 32 to the grading machine, the one end of the chute, which is formed with a lead 41,

being arranged to project between the flanges 34 of the feed-wheel, as clearly shown in Figure 6. i

Referring particularly to Figure 6: As the rollers are fed through the aperture 17 they are caused by the guide-plate 33 to fall upon the top of the feed-wheel between the flanges 34, and since their smaller ends can pass between the latter they hang vertically, supported by their larger ends, which cannot pass between the flanges, with their smaller ends downwards, as illustrated in full lines in the aforesaid figure. The feed-wheel is 5. arranged to rotate in a direction towards the chute 40 which is arranged as shown, and

when the said wheel has passed through a portion of'a revolution (less than one quarter) the smaller end of the roller 32, which latter is carried round with the wheel, is

caused to strike against the lead 41 of the chute 40 which projects between theflanges 34 as previously stated. This posltion is shown by dotted lines at 32, Figure 6, The

said smaller end is thus arrested whilst'its larger end moves on until the said roller hes lengthwise upon the chute 40,, with its larger end presented downwards. The roller then slides down the chute by gravity to the grading machine. The whole of the rollers are fed through the aperture 17 on to the said wheel in a similar manner and consequently they are all fed on to the chute with their larger ends facing the same direction.

By arranging the chute 40 a little distance below the position illustrated in Figure 6, so that the smaller'ends of the rollers do not come into'contact with the lead-end of the chute 40, each roller hangs vertically with its smaller end downwards during the whole time it is supported by the wheel, that is during approximately a quarter of a revolution of the latter, as shown in Figure 8. The roller then leaves the wheel,

its smaller end engaging or striking the chute 40, which owing to its inclination causes the roller to pass down the said chutewith its smaller end foremost, instead of its larger end being presented foremost as in the previous arrangement. It will thus be seen that the rollers may be delivered withtheir larger ends facing either direction, as desired.

Although the improved feed mechanism is particularly adapted for automatically delivering taper rollers. it may be used for delivering parallel-sided rollers; or it may be employed for delivering or feedingheaded or other screws, rivets, or other analogous with a groovefor holding the articles, the

said reciprocating member being adapted to raise the said articles opposite to the feed chute and to cause them to pass therethrough, a transfer slide movable transversely across the lower end of the feed chute, said slide having a passage adapted to receive an article from the chute, a guide for the transfer slide having a delivery opening out of' alinement with the feed chute, a spring acting upon the transfer slide to move the same until the receiving passage in the slide is opposite to the delivery opening in the guide, a cam carried by the reciprocating member in the hopper, and a bellcrank lever having one arm connected to the:

2. Automatic feed mechanism for taper bearing rollers comprising a hopper for the said rollers, means for causing the rollers to pass one at a' time through a discharge aperture, a wheel disposed beneath the discharge aperture and having separated flanges adapted to receive the rollers between them, so that the latter are supported between the fianges by their larger ends which are disposed uppermost, and a chute disposed beneath the wheel so as to receive the rollers from the latter, so that the said rollers pass down the chute with their larger ends all facingthe same direction.

3. Automatic feed mechanism for taper rollers comprising a hopper for the articles to be delivered, an inclined feed passage, a reciprocating member having an inclined upper edge provided with-a groove for holding' the rollers, the said member being. adapted to raise the latter opposite the feed passage and cause them to pass therethrough, a l

cam carried by the reciprocating member, a sliding member operated by the cam and disposed at the lower end of the feed passage, the said sliding member being adapted to receive one roller at a time and to cause same to pass through-a-discharge opening, a wheel disposed beneath the discharge opening and having separated flanges adapted to receive the rollers between them, so that the latter are supported between the vflangesby their larger ends which are disposed uppermost, and a chute disposed beneath the wheel so as to receive the rollers from the latter, so that the said rollers pass down the chute with their larger ends all facing thesame direction.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set mv hand.

LLEWELLYN MILFORD ELLIS. 

